


5 Days Learning to Love

by the_Moonlight_shines_down_on_you



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 16:17:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14622414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_Moonlight_shines_down_on_you/pseuds/the_Moonlight_shines_down_on_you
Summary: This is my first fanfic work. And since English isn't my mother tongue,  if there is any mistake in my work, I hope you don't mind telling me what it is. Thank you!This is a series of stories originated from Apollo and Daphne’s love story and recomposed by me. The story is narrated from Apollo’s point of view. In this story, Cupid only shot the golden arrow to Apollo, he didn’t shot Daphne, so she neither abhorred the thought of loving nor rejected Apollo.





	5 Days Learning to Love

     After days of fighting, Apollo finally killed the loathsome Python, who had caused too many troubles to both immortals and humans. “Now I’ve made a great contribution to the world, everyone will respect me, and no one shall look down upon me.” I decided to take a walk, to refresh my mind.

**_Day 1_ **

     Walking along the stream, I came by a little boy playing with his little bow and arrows. Does the wimpy kid want to imitate invincible god of the sun? “Stop that childish tricks, saucy boys like you can never be like me!” I scoffed. Without waiting for the boy’s reaction, I walked away. After a while I suddenly felt that I was hit by something. Looking around, I found nothing, so I didn’t pay attention to the sudden pain.

     That night when I was sleeping, I dreamt of a girl. She was running in the forest, with her unbound hair streamed behind her, and the garments blown by wind. And when she sang, her voice was as sweet as honey. “We can make a good match.” Saying as I woke up and made up my mind to find the girl.

      Shortly after, I spotted the girl, who was actually a nymph. She looked the same as she was in my dream, jumping, singing, dancing, hair flying, splashing, such a lively nymph. With a smile, I approached her. However, like sensing danger, she fled. “Oh, I forgot introducing myself!” So I shouted at her: “I am Apollo, god of song and the lyre! It’s an honor to be friend with a god, you shouldn’t be shy!” But she didn’t stop and disappeared.

       Frustrated, I walked back to where I sleep, and tried to figure out why she reacted in this way. After an unknown period of time, a man holding a basket of fruits came across me. It must be Vertumnus. He was laughing from ear to ear. When he saw my sullen face, he came sit down beside me and asked what was wrong. I told him exactly what had happened. He patted me on my back and sighed, “Oh my sweet summer child, let me teach you!”, he said. And he told me his story, about how he changed his look and tell his love Pomona a sad story concerning a young boy being rejected again and again by a cruel girl and finally committed suicide. And how he convinced Pomona that one shouldn’t have a stony heart for suitors even though she didn’t love them. “You see, you can’t just tell her who you are in a superior position, that will disgust her more. What you should do is to start with a simple conversation, talk sense into her. And you can know more about each other.” After hearing this, it seemed not so confused as before. And I started composing a new song which I would like to sing to the nymph tomorrow after thanking Vertumnus.

_Day 2_

     Early in the morning, I disguised myself as a bard, took my lyre with me got to where I met the nymph yesterday and started singing my song while waiting for her. When I finished my song, I felt someone standing behind me, and when I turned around, I was very delighted to find out it was her. With a smile, she said,

    “I’m Daphne. Who might you be?”

    “My name is Admes, a bard who was traveling to find love.”

    “That’s interesting. And the song was very beautiful, would you mind sharing it with me?”

    “Of course not, it’s my pleasure.”

So later on that day, I taught her how to play the lyre, and we sang for the whole day. When the sun went down and the moon was high up in the sky. She said she was supposed to go home otherwise her father would be worried. Before she left, I gave her a bunch of laurel flowers and made her promise that we would meet here tomorrow. Saying thank you in my mind to Vertumnus again, I thought it was time to make proposal with her father about marriage tomorrow before sleep took me.

_Day 3_

      After checking my disguise and made sure nothing wasn’t inappropriate, I set up to meet my pearl. After another day of dancing and singing. I expressed my wish to know Daphne’s family, to which she readily agreed. Nevertheless, everything took a sudden turn when we met her father, the river god Peneus. He took us to different rooms, and he told me politely that I was just a mortal bard, my duty is to sing during the feasts, which meant I wasn’t good enough for his daughter. And before I told him who I really was, he kicked me out. “Who does he think he is! The foolish oaf!” I gnashed. But I still want to stay with Daphne and I used my power to overhear what the old man told his daughter.             “What you think is love is just momentary passion, it won’t last long. You should not blind your eyes by his good look and love songs. You must stay sober and listen to your heart of what it truly wants.” “Yes, father.” I wasn’t sure if Daphne agreed with her father or not, but it doesn’t matter and I felt upset anyway.

       So here I sit with a sullen face again beside my tent, snorting. At around midnight, a couple who seemed to be traveling set up their tents beside mine. After they settled down, I was surprised to find out it was Eros and his wife Psyche. I suddenly recognized the boy I met the other day. He was Eros. It must be him who shot me with an arrow.

       Out of fury, I said, “You come to laugh at me, right? Now your intention is satisfied, I am rejected!” Psyche was surprised when she came to known what happened and to apologize, she offered to help me, so I told them my unpleasant meeting with Peneus and asked them how to make this mess up.

       Psyche smiled and said she was faced with the same obstacle as mine when Aphrodite found out about them. “And how did you overcome it?” I asked her eagerly.

      “Well, first I must tell you that you mustn’t have too much hope. It may be passion between you two or maybe it is true love. Since Peneus thought you are not good enough, why don’t you just prove yourself and let him know you are such an excellent young man? When I turned to my mother-in-law for help, she required me to perform tasks that seemed impossible. Like collecting different seeds grain by grain, fetching a jar contained the beauty from Persephone from the Underworld. God bless me, finally I complete all the tasks and we reunited.”

       “What’s the point of telling me this? I’m a god, I can do anything, let alone picking seeds or visiting the Underworld.” I was confused.

        Eros sighed, “You truly know nothing about fighting for love, right? Apollo. What Psyche wanted to tell you is that soul and desire don’t always united, most of time they are separated. If you truly want to stay together, you should fight with all your heart. It’s not about completing impossible tasks, it is about your sincerity that you need to show to her family. And since, it widely known that morals can rarely marry to gods, I think you’d better reveal your real identity after all this. Your status can be of good use to you as long as you use it properly. But finally and most importantly, you must figure out what it really is between you two.” “Thanks, I’m much more sober now. I will come up with ideas. Good night, good trip!” “Good night!” said the couple.

_ Day 4 _

     I still disguised as a bard because I didn’t think it a good time to reveal myself. Hiding myself in the bush nearby Daphne’s home, I started to look for something I can help. Inside the house, the river god was thinking about how to help the farmers irrigate their farmlands more efficiently. It seemed that none of his advisors had come up with an idea. And it suddenly occurs me that some people in the East had invented a machine that can automatically transfer water from river to the farmlands. I quickly boarded my chariot, flew to the East, looking for the machine. Fortunately, it didn’t take me very long before I found a vanding machine and make a better one with my power. Taking my machine back to Daphne’s house, I called out everyone. When Peneus came out with his advisors, he frowned and was confused by the “big thing” beside me. Confidently, I told them what it was and taught the farmers how to use the machine to irrigate crops without carrying water from far away. Peneus was happy with my work and decided every gods and people in his area should cooperate together to produce the irrigating machines. Knowing he was testing me, I devoted myself to the work and help him manage the rivers. To my delight, Daphne always came to help me, we made good teamwork. Unlike other times, I still enjoyed her companion without getting bored, and so was she. Gradually, he respected me and asked to stay for the feast tomorrow.

_ Day 5  _

      During the feast, I played my lyre and sang another song for Daphne. After doing so, I reveal my identity and talked to Peneus again. This time, he was very happy that his daughter had finally found true love. After all this we joined in long-termed relationship. 

 

_ FIN _


End file.
